REGULATION | Bank Of Ghana Orders All Financial Institutions to Cease Operations with Global Remittance Provider, TapTap Send

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has ordered all financial institutions in the country, including commercial banks and Enhanced Payment Service Providers, to cease their Remittance Termination Partnerships with global remittance provider, Taptap Send.

This directive was outlined in a letter addressed to all banks, Dedicated Electronic Money Issuers, Enhanced Payment Service Providers, and the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement System (GhIPSS).

The BoG specified in the letter that the measure, effective from November 8 2024, will remain in place for one month.

According to the bank, the decision was made because Taptap Send was operating a Cedi Remittance Wallet, which breached the country’s Foreign Exchange Act. The central bank noted that this activity also violated the updated guidelines for inward remittance services.

BoG stated that the law demands that foreign currencies are deposited into the accounts of the banks and institutions in Ghana and then the Cedi equivalent credited to the receiver in Ghana.

“The Foreign Exchange Act 3 (1) states that a person, shall not engage in the business of dealing in Foreign Exchange without the licensed issued under this Act,” said the Bank of Ghana.

“We therefore hope that this move will go a long to serve as a deterrent to other institutions in that space when it comes to complying with the country’s Foreign Exchange Act.”

Taptap Send is an app that lets people send money back home to Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean quickly and at very low prices.

The app is live in the UK, EU, US, Canada and UAE, and supports payments into:

• Senegal
• Mali
• Guinea
• Ghana
• Cameroon
• The Ivory Coast
• Kenya
• Madagascar
• Zambia
• Bangladesh
• Vietnam
• DR Congo
• Morocco
• Sri Lanka
• Rep. Congo
• Pakistan
• Nepal
• Ethiopia
• Nigeria
• Mozambique
• Cambodia
• Haiti
• Tunisia
• Uganda
• Lebanon
• Colombia
• Guatemala
• Philippines
• Egypt
• Mexico
• India
• Turkey and
• Zimbabwe

with more countries launching soon.

According to local reports, the service has become the choice for many people sending money to Ghana. This is due to the mobile-based platform, and its competitive pricing compared to the other remittance service providers.

In April 2024, as reported by BitKE, TapTap Send was among the representatives of various domestic and international stakeholders in the Nigerian forex market that participated in a meeting organized by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) following the formation of a task-force to double remittance inflows into the country from the $20.5 billion received in 2023.

According to the CBN Governor, the taskforce will drive progress and address any bottlenecks that hinder flows through formal channels.